Generally, curtains and blinds are installed on the windows or entrance doors of buildings to block sunlight, to block prying eyes from outside, to reduce noise, and to protect against the cold, and the like. In addition to such practical purposes, they are also used as an important part of indoor decoration for improving the indoor appearance through desired color combinations with the indoor walls or glass.
Curtains and blinds may be classified as curtains of a general type that can be folded and unfolded from the center to both sides, vertical blinds that are segmented into a plurality of panels adjustable in their inclination angles, roll screens having a one- or two-layer blind fabric that can be wound or unwound on/from a rotatable winding rod, or roman blinds that can be folded in up and down directions through the winding operation of loop cords.
One of conventional roman blinds is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0444019, and FIGS. 1 to 5b show the conventional roman blind. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the conventional roman blind, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the back surface of the conventional roman blind of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a portion “A” of FIG. 2, wherein the conventional roman blind includes a frame 10, a loop-forming fabric 11, loop cord-supporting portions 12, and a weight 13. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 3, and FIGS. 5a and 5b are longitudinal sectional views of FIG. 1.
The frame 10, which is mounted on the top portion of a window, has an appropriate length corresponding to the length of the window, and a winding rod 14 is rotatably disposed inside the frame 10. Further, a winding unit 15 is mounted at one side of the winding rod 14, and the winding rod 14 is rotated by pulling an adjustment cord 16 connected to the winding unit 15.
The loop-forming fabric 11 is fixed at one end thereof to the inside of the front surface of the frame 10. Also, the loop cords 17 are fixed at one end thereof to the winding rod 14 rotatably mounted in the frame 10, and fixed at the other end thereof to the weight 13 adapted to maintain the loop-forming fabric 11 in a tense state at the time when the loop-forming fabric 11 is unfolded.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the loop cords 17, which are fixed at one end thereof to the winding rod 14, are inserted into the loop cord-supporting portions 12 formed on the back surface of the loop-forming fabric 11, and as shown in FIG. 4, each loop cord-supporting portion 12 includes a decoration body 19 from which a connection pin 18 is protruded, and a decoration fixing member 21 to which a connection ring 20 is attached, so that the connection pin 18 of the decoration body 19 is passed through the loop-forming fabric 11 and fixed to the decoration fixing member 21, thereby integrally coupling the decoration body 19 with the decoration fixing member 21 to form each loop cord-supporting portion 12.
That is, the decoration body 19 of the loop cord-supporting portion 12 is fitted to each of holes 22 formed spaced apart from each other by a given distance transversely and longitudinally on the loop-forming fabric 11, and next, the loop cords 17 are passed through the connection rings 20 exposed to the back surface of the loop-forming fabric 11, thereby completing the assembling work of the loop-forming fabric 11.
After that, the upper end of the loop-forming fabric 11 fixed at the lower end thereof to the weight 13 is fixed to the inside of the front surface of the frame 10, and the upper ends of the loop cords 17 are then fixed to the winding rod 14, thereby finishing the assembling work of the roman blind.
In the state where the loop-forming fabric 11 is completely unfolded, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5a, it fully covers the window to shield the indoors and outdoors.
In this state, if the adjustment cord 16 is pulled by a user, the winding rod 14 connected to the winding unit 15 is rotated to wind the loop cords 17, and thus, the loop cord-supporting portions 12 formed on the lowermost end of the loop-forming fabric 11 to which the loop cords 17 are fixed are moved upwardly. At this time, the loop cords 17 are guided and moved stably by the connection rings 20 of the loop cord-supporting portions 12.
The loop cord-supporting portions 12, which move upwardly in the state of being connected to the loop cords 17, are raised together with the weight 13, in the state of being formed in a plurality of columns inclusive of both sides and center of the loop-forming fabric 11, and as the lower portion of the loop-forming fabric 11 is moved upwardly to the same speed and height, if the loop cord-supporting portions 12 are contacted with the adjacent upper side loop cord-supporting portions 12 as shown in FIG. 5b, the loop-forming fabric 11 is folded sequentially to form the loops thereon.
Conversely, if the adjustment cord 16 is pulled in the opposite direction to the direction as mentioned above to unfold the loop-forming fabric 11 downwardly, the loop cords 17 are unwound at the same time from the winding rod 14, and thus, the loop-forming fabric 11 is naturally moved downwardly by the self-weight of the weight 13 to cover the window.
However, the loop-forming fabric used for the roman blind having the above-mentioned structure and the roman blind using the loop-forming fabric have the following problems.
First, so as to form the loop cord-supporting portions in such a manner as to be exposed to the back surface of the loop-forming fabric, the holes should be formed spaced apart from each other by a given distance transversely and longitudinally on the loop-forming fabric, and next, the decoration body of each loop cord-supporting portion should be passed through the holes, while the connection rings are being separately coupled to the decoration fixing members, thereby making the time needed for the assembling work of the loop-forming fabric substantially delayed to decrease the productivity of the loop-forming fabric.
Second, the decoration body of each loop cord-supporting portion is fitted to each hole formed on the loop-forming fabric, thereby making the loop cord-supporting portion easily deviate from the loop-forming fabric while in use.
Third, the decoration body is exposed on the front surface of the loop-forming fabric, thereby making the outer appearance of the loop-forming fabric look bad.
Fourth, the loop cords adapted to form the loops on the loop-forming fabric are exposed to the back surface of the loop-forming fabric, and in the state where the loop-forming fabric is moved downwardly to completely cover the window, the loop cords may be pulled and cut by a child playing behind the loop-forming fabric or they are wrapped around his neck, so that a safety device for preventing the loop cords from being exposed to the outside has been legally introduced and developed in the U.S.A. and Europe, and other countries.
Fifth, the loop-forming fabric is a single layer, and in the state where it is positioned at the lower dead point, the daylight collection and ventilation of the indoors are not achieved, such that it required winding up of the loop-forming fabric to achieve this.
Sixth, while one conventional roman blind disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0365028 entitled ‘Height and Brightness Adjustment Type Blind’ may permit daylight collection and ventilation even when the blind fabric is positioned at the lower dead point by providing a blind fabric with continuously formed light-transmitting portions and light-shielding portions, this conventional technique leads to an increase in the whole outer diameter of the winding rod and in turn in the overall size of the frame, and thus makes it difficult to open windows rapidly. This is because a weight is located on a folded blind fabric, and the blind fabric is fixed at one end thereof to a frame and at the other end thereof to a winding rod, such that to completely open windows both layers of the blind fabric have to be completely wound on the winding rod. This is especially problematic, for example, for theaters, churches, gyms, hotel lobbies, airports and the like that have tall windows due to their high story heights.
Seventh, according to the conventional roman blind disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0365028, the weight located on the loops is moved up and down to open and close the window, which only allows the applicability of the blind fabric to a single kind of integrated fabric that cannot have front and back fabrics of differing color or thickness to provide various indoor atmospheres.